Chapter 252

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Chapter 252: The Song of Humans

In the depths of the temple, there is a dark staircase leading downwards.

It is worth mentioning that when the group arrived here, the shopkeeper’s clothes had mysteriously turned into a black robe.

However, she herself seemed to be unaware of this.

The policewoman and firefighter clearly noticed, but they didn’t say anything. Instead, they moved closer to Chu Jiang, trying to stay away from the shopkeeper and the thin man who seemed out of sorts.

Once again, Chu Jiang led the way and the group descended the staircase, eventually arriving in a spacious hall.

On the ceiling here, the same mysterious moss reappeared, emitting a dim, eerie green light, but there were only a few patches of it.

Apart from Chu Jiang and a few others, the policewoman and firefighter could barely make out a figure in the center of the hall, behind which stood a lonely doorway.

"What is that?" The skinny boy sounded confused.

"A statue?" Chu Jiang wasn’t too sure either. Even though he had the ability to see in the dark, the human-shaped statue was covered in a mysterious shadow that made it impossible to see its true appearance.

The shopkeeper said in a low voice, "That’s a deity statue. I’m not sure about the rest, but it’s very dangerous…"

Although they weren’t sure how the shopkeeper found out, the problem now was that the independent door behind the deity statue was likely the door to Room

5. Chu Jiang tried to maneuver around the deity statue using his Phantom Eyes power, and from a distance, he saw that there were indeed five bloody symbols on the door.

Now there was no escape, and this was the first supernatural obstacle that appeared directly in their path since they entered the room. Its terror might surpass the danger of all the previous rooms…

At that moment, the skinny boy suddenly brought up something, "Who else hasn’t opened a door yet?"

While the others were still pondering, the shopkeeper directly said, "Me, the firefighter, and the dead bald guy."

"So, who will go and open this door next?" The reason why the skinny boy was actively opening doors earlier was because he anticipated this situation.

"You’re too impatient," said Chu Jiang calmly. "We’re not even in front of the door yet."

The thin man smiled but there was no joy in his eyes as he said, "It’s best to discuss and plan carefully. The opportunity to enter the next room may only last a moment."

It seemed that this person’s personality hadn’t changed, and because of their increased strength, they were able to express their thoughts more clearly without fearing Chu Jiang as much.

"Me," said the shopkeeper in a hoarse and low voice. It had changed a lot from the clear and bright voice at the beginning.

"To be exact, I will clear the way for you, and you can take the chance to enter the next room."

"Of course, I probably won’t be able to hold back that statue for long, and it will be destroyed by the other side very soon. By then, you will have to leave it to fate."

The shopkeeper’s response left Chu Jiang and the thin man speechless. The thin man even thought he had misheard and said in disbelief, "Are you planning to sacrifice yourself? Why?"

"Because I am human, not a ghost," the shopkeeper answered, with a deep but resolute voice.

Obviously, the thin man’s earlier words meant that there was already one ghost in the group, and the shopkeeper Li Yuhan knew exactly who she was referring to…

The thin man remained silent, and so did Chu Jiang.

Chu Jiang never expected that the other person would ultimately make such a choice. Was this her remaining human reason, the final struggle she made?

The shopkeeper now seemed to have lost all emotions. No love, no hate, and no fear of death.

But she knew very well that she was becoming less and less like herself.

Even if the shopkeeper didn’t die in Room 4, soon she would lose her last trace of sanity and turn into a ghost…

So she made one final choice – to die as a human instead of a ghost and embrace a "new life."

"One last favor, if you can return to the real world, bury my head in my hometown," said the shopkeeper, holding the head that she cherished dearly and handed it to Chu Jiang.

Obviously, she believed that Chu Jiang was the person most likely to survive.

Chu Jiang nodded slightly with a heavy heart, "Okay, I promise you."

The shop assistant gave her own phone to Chu Jiang, so he could have most of her information.

Chu Jiang stuffed all of these into his left hand and said, "Tell the two foreigners to cooperate with me in the next action."

The shop assistant agreed and briefly spoke to the policewoman and firefighter.

Both of them were very surprised when they understood, especially the policewoman Michiko. She even felt guilty for intentionally avoiding before.

Michiko stepped forward, wanting to say something to the shop assistant.

But the shop assistant took a step back, not wanting any contact with her. She looked at Chu Jiang, "Are you ready?"

Chu Jiang looked at the thin man and nodded expressionlessly.

"Let’s begin," Chu Jiang used the power of Ghost Domain to envelop everyone except the shop assistant. This thing, now in this top danger zone, is often breached by all kinds of fierce ghosts, but it’s worth using.

Otherwise, Chu Jiang could only use the power of Imitation Ghost, or Stretching Ghost, or the curse’s power. The Theater Ghost Domain is much better.

The headless shop assistant didn’t say anything else. She floated slowly towards the statue, and at the same time, she began to sing a haunting and creepy divine song, "Through me the way into the sad city… ~"

This is a true "Divine Comedy," a poem said to be engraved on the gates of Hell:

Through me, enter the city of endless pain.

Through me, enter the eternal pit of misery.

Through me, enter the crowd forever lost.

Justice propels my noble Creator.

I am the embodiment of divine power, wisdom, and love.

Before me, there was no eternal creation.

I will endure alongside the heavens and the earth.

Whoever enters will lose all hope…

Watching the figure of the shopkeeper, Chu Jiang whispered softly, "The anthem of humanity is the anthem of courage."

These words also reached Li Yuhan’s ears, but she didn’t turn back; she continued singing the divine song and approached the statue.

When the shopkeeper got close enough, the shadow enveloping the statue suddenly disappeared, revealing its true form.

It was indeed a statue, carved from white marble. It looked like a goddess, with a voluptuous body, a gentle face, and a bare upper body covered by a complex dress below.

It had a perfectly proportioned body, but at the first glance, it evoked a sense of sacred beauty rather than any impure thoughts.

Chu Jiang even thought of the Venus de Milo, but unlike that statue, this goddess had both her arms. Her right arm hung by her side, fingers grazing her garment, while her left arm extended forward, holding an hourglass.

"Be careful, the opponent’s ability might be related to time." Chu Jiang used Ghost Domain and approached the door of room number 5 from the side, while warning the shopkeeper.

The sight of the hourglass now gave Chu Jiang a headache. The power of time was still too incomprehensible for mere mortals.

The shop assistant didn’t respond, unsure if it was because of the song she was humming or that she floated towards the statue without provoking an attack from it.

Chu Jiang couldn’t go too fast either, as the previous encounter proved that rushing would only lead to a quicker death.

……

In the end, Chu Jiang and his friends were incredibly lucky to reach the door of Room 5 without encountering any danger.

However, by this time, the shop assistant’s voice had become fainter and fainter, as if she had exhausted herself in the supernatural battle and soon would be unable to continue singing the song.

This made the skinny boy start to worry, and he gestured to the firefighter, "You, go upstairs and open the door."

"Let me do it," Chu Jiang said, preparing to step forward.

At this point, if there was any danger, the firefighter inside was the weakest and had a ninety-nine percent chance of dying.

Unexpectedly, firefighter Paul waved his hand, stopping Chu Jiang, and once again took out a newspaper from his backpack and began to light it on fire.

This made Chu Jiang puzzled, can’t you burn this newspaper? It shouldn’t be prepared by yourself, right?

Moreover, this mysterious power also confused Chu Jiang. Why can burning the newspaper resist the supernatural and survive?

Remembering the card that the firefighter drew, it was a blurry figure burning the newspaper in front of the grave…

Chu Jiang suddenly thought of a proverb: burning newspaper at the grave – tricking ghosts.

Could it be that the ghost on the card can deceive the attacking ghosts by burning the newspaper?

After Chu Jiang came to this somewhat puzzling conclusion, on the firefighter’s side, he still ignited the newspaper to protect himself, and then he tried to open the door.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the singing of the shopkeeper abruptly stopped.

Chu Jiang turned around and suddenly the statue started moving. The hourglass in its left hand started flowing, and its right hand raised, pointing silently and gracefully at the headless shopkeeper.

Just by pointing, the shopkeeper’s body quickly aged, her exposed skin became lifeless and wrinkled, and even patches of age spots appeared.

Her black robe decayed rapidly, as if it had suffered from countless years of destruction in an instant.

"Hurry!" the skinny man urged, unable to remain calm in this life-or-death situation.

And the skinny man could tell that the shop assistant had already started to turn into a ghost, otherwise she would have already disappeared like the robe, instead of transforming into an elderly woman in her seventies.

The firefighter gritted his teeth, holding a lit newspaper in his left hand and rushing forward to grab the doorknob with his right hand.

But what frustrated him was that he couldn’t turn the doorknob no matter how hard he tried?! Did he need a key? But all the doors earlier were easily opened by twisting.

Seeing that the firefighter was not in immediate danger, the skinny man rushed forward to help open the door, but then, with a loud crash, he was instantly torn apart into countless pieces!

No, to be precise, it wasn’t a dismemberment. The different parts of his body were spatially displaced, causing an effect similar to dismembering a body.

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